this one kind of caught us off balance. it had been rumored if a long time. >> reporter: airline expert darryl jenkins says southwest went after airtran because of its presence in airports that are nearly impossible to acquire new gates. reagan national, new york's la guardia and boston's logan airports to name a few. plus, now, southwest can go head to head with delta in atlanta where airtran has its hub. >> so sth's a huge deal for them. not only do you have that but you have it going to the caribbean. they are getting 10 years worth of grow out of this merger. >> reporter: louella rhodes is on her way back from atlanta. he she flies airtran often. >> i'm praying that the service will continue to be great, our flights will object time and most of all, we get very reasonable rates and air fares. >> reporter: so what about tick the prices? will they go down because southwest is at reagan? general kick says don't bet on it. remember, airtran is already a low cost airline. >> smart move on the part of southwest and i think yo